What colleges/universities in the West Coast, Southwest and Texas have good computer science/Engineering program with co-op for B/B+ student?
Iāll let others answerā¦but if this screen name is your real name, I would urge you to change it.
1 Like
Arizona publics. New Mexico. Texas Tech, OU, (u of Oklahoma), UNLV, Lamar , Stephen F Austin, etc
If you want smaller like a Southwestern, Tulsa , etc.
There could be some Cal State schools, UC Merced.
I think first you need to give a budget and more - what have they accomplished academically (rigor), SAT, ECs.
Itās likely that a B/B+ student will have a hard time earning a CS degree. Not impossible but itās a huge grind.
But theyāll likely struggle to get merit aid so a budget needs to be known + state of residence and the other aspects i mentioned. Thanks.
Yes, these are typically highly important in college selection, unless the parents are willing to pay list price for any college (could be over $320k for four academic years (not counting co-op), but high school B/B+ students are more likely to need semesters in school (not counting co-op) beyond 8 to finish a bachelorās degree).
If Texas public universities are under consideration, class rank is highly important.
If California public universities are under consideration, high school GPA as recalculated at GPA Calculator for the University of California ā RogerHub is highly important.
1 Like
Assuming your residence is in the west and are eligible, the Western Union Exchange has a few schools that are worth considering. OSU, UNR and NMSU are the first few that come to mind.
https://www.wiche.edu/tuition-savings/wue/wue-savings-finder/?majors=Computer%20Science
Assuming the title that includes āsmartā, means the kid is bright enough, just didnāt push hard for the grades in high school. Do SAT/ACT scores show this? Some schools will take that into consideration, CA publics will not.
So cal resident
SAT 1520
Honor classes: 12 (not all qualify for UC honor points); coursework in engineering specific courses like Principle of Engineering and Digital electronic and Manufacturing
AP classes: Eng language, US History,Calc AB, Chem, Human Geography(5), AP CS A (5), Chinese (4),
Senior AP Classes: Govt, Macroeconomic, English Lit, Physic BC, Environmental Science
EC: Leadership role in school computing club, math club
Volunteer: Math tutoring, conservation field volunteer
Work: Camp counselor for a summer
courses: dual enrollment in cc computer class and one humanities.
Research: One summer research intern at a lower tier school
Budget: can be full pay if has good prestige or good alumni connections to future jobs/internship; can be out of state since we will move so to declare in-state residency after 1st year in college.
I agree with you comment about CS degree being a huge grind. I tried to discourage him but heās a bit stubborn. But we will see how he does in school and AP tests. Also Engineering is another option for him. He also likes environmental science but is open to industrial/system engineering so would like to know what B+ schools would be good for those majors also.
The school doesnāt matter - if itās ABET.
So youāll get merit at schools like Alabama, WVU, Mississippi State, UAH.
Youāll get into Arizona and Arizona State.
As for your geographies, I listed schools above in post 3 to match.
That are you are full pay is good - because cost doesnāt matter.
The school you go to - short of a handful - also doesnāt matterā¦not in engineering or CS. As an example, my son turned down Purdue with merit, for Alabama. Had 20 interviews, had 5 offers and would have had a six from his intern company if he didnāt tell them he accepted a job in the Fallā¦one in the 70s, 4 in the 80s, one in the 90s.
Best of luck
PS - thereās a ton more he can get into - but I suggested based on your geography.
Just make sure they have ABET. Environmental pays a bit less I believe but thatās ok. He just needs to find something he loves.
If you want to know great schools - not matching your geography - Bama, Auburn, WVU, Mississippi State, Iowa State, Kansas Stateā¦lots of schools like this.
But for CA - youāve got the schools above - the Arizona/ASU, UNM, UNLV, UNR, an Oregon State if youāre willing to go North, maybe a Colorado Stateā¦lots of Texas publics, UNM, New Mexico Mining
Just look for ABETā¦thatās the key.
Heās got lots of great choices - U of A is very very solid!!
which schools are easy to change major if say he get into CS or engineering and later decide to do something less math intensive like environmental science or business information management?
I suppose they are less math intensiveā¦
Most big flagships will be easy to changeā¦40 to 60% of engineers drop out or change majorā¦many to businessā¦so I imagine any state flagship would be fine - and both U of A and ASU - and others I suggested have fine business schools.
Does he want large - or medium - or small.
Whatās he looking for in a school?
An FYIā¦check residency requirements before you move. Some places require two years of residency before instate tuition status is given. Some keep you as you were when you enrolled so if OOS, that is your status all four years. Some donāt grant instate status of your kid is already enrolled because that implies you made the move to gain instate status.
With all the colleges in CA, and the exchange, your kid has LOTS of great options.
I would suggest you also look at University of New Mexico and Arizona.
2 Likes
Youāve received a number of great suggestions already. Here are a few more schools you may want to consider that are all ABET-accredited (important for many engineering fields). Iāve listed the number of disciplines they are accredited in, but that should not be taken to be a point of crucial importance. For instance, some schools may offer a concentration in environmental engineering within their civil engineering while other schools created a separate environmental engineering major that they got ABET-accredited. Some schools may have gotten accreditation for CS, a field where ABET-accreditation is not essential. But, for other schools it may show some less common options that arenāt available elsewhere. Depending on your sonās interests, I would do some research. The big 3 are civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering, but if your son has a particular interest (say, chemical engineering), then Iād look and see which schools are accredited in that area.
Larger schools:
- U. of Texas - Dallas (6 disciplines)
- U. of Utah (and your family wouldnāt need to move as itās usually pretty easy for students to become residents after their first year)
- U. of Houston (9 disciplines, excluding engineering technology)
- Oregon State (14 disciplines)
- Colorado State (8 disciplines)
- Montana State (9, excluding engineering technology)
- U. of New Mexico (9 disciplines)
Small to mid-sized schools:
- Seattle U. (the big 3 disciplinesā¦civil, electrical, mechanical)
- U. of Tulsa (6 disciplines)
- U. of Denver (3 disciplinesā¦only if your son is thinking electrical or mechanical engineeringā¦otherwise, go elsewhereā¦but if he switches into business this would be a really good spot)
- Gonzaga (6 disciplines)
- U. of Idaho (8 disciplines)
- U. of the Pacific (8 disciplines)
- U. of Portland (4 disciplinesā¦the big 3 + computer science)
- U. of Wyoming (9 disciplines)
2 Likes
It very much depends on the specific major at the specific school. Look up ā[name of school] change major to [name of new major]ā in your favorite search engine to try to find if it is difficult to do so.
Thank you all! These are great info. He changes his mind every year about what he would like to major in so he needs to keep his options open at this point. He does like smaller class size for college. My preference is somewhere in southern California so itās easier for me to see him without flying out (I have bad motion sickness; Iām always the driver when I travel because as a passenger I get motion sickness)
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If youād like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.